After a while I hesitantly lifted my head off his shoulder and away from his neck. I slowly straightened my body as my arms left his back. A part of me wasn’t ready to leave this embrace; I wanted it to last a little longer. Maelstroms arms stayed around my body as I sat up straight. I assumed it was to keep me from falling over because we were on the edge of his bed.

As I was sitting in his laps, we made eye contact. I froze as I looked into his multi-colored eyes. They were pretty and captivating. I was the one who broke eye contact as I shifted my weight to dismount him. As I moved, I felt a stiffness I didn’t expect. I froze again as I became uncomfortably aware that Maelstrom was hard.

I looked back at Maelstrom's face and watched as the blush surfaced on his cheeks. He looked away from me bashfully as he moved his hand back to my hips and assisted me off of him and his bed.

“Why are you…” I began to ask but was interrupted.

“Don’t ask that.” There was a hint of embarrassment in his voice.

Today was just one thing after the other with the two of us, but it was interesting to know that even Maelstrom could feel embarrassed.

Maelstrom stood up off of the bed and looked down at me, making eye contact with me yet again. He was silent, but he was questioning me. He wanted to know what he was allowed to do, but I wasn’t sure what to tell him, so I broke eye contact.

I walked back to the bathroom and whined as I remembered what the issue was. I swallowed my ego and turned to face Maelstrom.

“Do you have a mop?”

He stayed across the room next to his bed. “Yeah, there’s a mop and bucket in the bathroom closet.”

I nodded and stepped into the bathroom, closing the door behind me. With the door closed, I quickly picked up my mess. Once done, I left the bathroom with my soiled clothes in one bag and trash in another.

I avoided eye contact as I asked Maelstrom, “do you know where a washer and dryer are? And do you know where I can throw this away?” I lifted the bag with the trash.

“Here.” He said as he handed the leash back to me and made his way to the door.

I had both trash bags in one hand and the leash in the other as we made our way out of the dorm room. Maelstrom’s stride was wide and he quickly reached the limit of his leash. I felt slightly guilty as I knew the resistance from the collar probably wasn’t the most comfortable thing. He adjusted his stride to be more considerate to my own as we walked down the hall.

At the end of the hall, he stopped in front of a trash shoot. He opened it for me, and I threw my trash bag into it. Silently, we continued our journey into the elevator in which Maelstrom hit the button for the basement. He showed me where the wash and dryer were, and we awkwardly hung out in the basement as we waited for my clothes to wash and dry.

We were sitting in a waiting room, playing on our phones when another alpha walked in. He snorted at the two as he noticed the collar and leash on Maelstrom. Maelstrom looked up at him, but didn’t say or do anything about the obviously disrespectful snort.

Seeing that the snort didn’t get a rise out of Maelstrom the other alpha decided to antagonize him. “Must not be much of an alpha if you’re allowing an omega to walk you around like a puppy.” Maelstrom ignored him, causing the alpha to try again. “It’s pretty pathetic. You must be a dud.”

Maelstrom didn’t react until he heard the word “dud” which caused him to drop his phone as he stood up and growled at the alpha. I was still holding onto the leash when Maelstrom reached the point it was no longer slack. It was as if he had forgotten all about it as he dragged me off the bench I was sitting on. I could see him make a fist as he readied himself to fight the other alpha, but I yanked as hard as I could on the leash to get his attention.

I didn’t want him to get into a fight, and I definitely didn’t want to watch one either. When the yank didn’t work, I fell on the ground from the force of being pulled. I began to hyperventilate and unconsciously emit a pheromone that signaled my distress. This pheromone caught Maelstrom’s attention and made him turn away from the alpha in favor of returning to me.

He was releasing a pheromone that told the other alpha to back off as he helped me off of the ground. He picked me up and placed me back on the bench and stood in front of me as if guarding me from the other alpha. The tension in the room was growing with every second as the two stared at one another.

The tension was making me anxious as I was scared that the two might break out into a real fight. A fight didn’t mean that only these two alphas would get hurt, but by being in the same small room as them, I would be in danger as well. It is easy for an alpha to forget their surroundings during a fight as they try to come out on top.

This tension was only broken when another alpha entered the room. He looked between Maelstrom and the other alpha before sitting down in one of the chairs. The presence of a third alpha was enough to make the antagonizing alpha back down from his silent fight with Maelstrom.

He turned his back and walked out of the small waiting room, causing Maelstrom to visibly relax. He sat down beside me before letting out a heavy sigh.

“Are you okay?” He asked with his eyes closed.

“Yeah, I’m fine.”

“Are you sure? I didn’t mean to drag you like that. I forgot you had my leash.”

“I’m fine.”

“Don’t lie. Just because you're physically fine doesn’t mean you're emotionally fine. I could smell the distress.”

Until he had said it, I hadn’t realized that I had emitted any pheromones. I knew that I was uncomfortable and scared, but I didn’t realize that it was tangible to him and the other alpha. It was more than likely that it was my pheromones that kept the two from actually attacking one another.

“I’m really fine.” I stood up and started walking towards the door, “my clothes should be dry now.”

I was expecting to feel resistance in the leash as I had gotten up while Maelstrom’s eyes were closed, but he had quickly followed behind me.

As we made it back to the dry I asked, “are you sure you’re okay with the leash?”

“Yeah, why?”

“It’s just that other alpha made fun of you.”

“I don’t care about the leash.”

“Then why did you get so mad?”

He shook his head and refused to answer me, causing me to think that it really was the leash that caused it. My heart felt like it was put through a juicer as I started to feel guilty holding onto the leash. It was my fault that he had it on, and it was going to be my fault that every alpha made fun of him for it.

I wasn’t sure what I wanted to do about it, but I felt sad holding the leash. I could tell him that I didn’t want to do it anymore, but I’d be lying. It made it easier to keep him close to me without me having to hold his hand or belt loop. It allowed me to maintain a distance from him without allowing him to get too far away from me. However, I didn’t want to cause him any trouble or embarrassment.

I trudged my way through my emotions as we finished up my laundry and brought it back to our room. Before leaving the room again, I quickly thought about whether or not I really wanted to walk Maelstrom with a leash. I felt guilty, but in the end, I chose not to put it away. I decided to be selfish which made me feel bad.

As we made it out of the dorm, Maelstrom asked, “can I see your schedule?”

I nodded my head and pulled my phone out of my pocket. I quickly found my schedule and handed him my phone. He made an amused humming sound as he looked at it before handing my phone back to me. I wanted to ask him about the hum, but I didn’t know where to start. It could have just been an involuntary sound, but at the same time, what about my schedule amused him.

It made no sense because he already knew my schedule. I had told him yesterday when and what my classes were, so it wasn’t like any of it was a surprise to him. I wasn’t going to ask him, but my curiosity was getting the better of me.

“What did you find amusing about my classes?”

He looked down at me, “nothing really.”

I gave a slight growl, which caused him to raise an eyebrow at me. When I didn’t respond to him he began walking to presumably one of the buildings I would have class in. We walked for some time with strangers staring at us as we passed them. The attention didn’t seem to bother Maelstrom as he continued down the sidewalk to the first building he was going to show me.

I was looking around, trying to find landmarks, to help me keep track of how to get the building. I would need to repeat this by myself later.

Eventually, he stepped off of the main sidewalk onto one of the other sidewalks that lead to a building. I was looking for the sign to read the name of the building, but when I found it, I didn’t believe that I read it correctly.

Maelstrom went up to the door, but before opening it, he turned back to face me. “So this isn’t one of the buildings you need for classes, but I think you really need to be familiar with the clinic. You should go inside and see if you can get an appointment today or sometime before classes. I think you would benefit from some anxiety medicines made for omegas.”

I was only slightly offended by the fact that he was trying to tell me I had a problem by suggesting I get medicated, but I was also impressed that he even considered this as an option. I thought about it and decided he was probably right. I was already naturally anxious, but being away from my home in a completely new environment had made it worse.

He was clearly waiting on me to make a decision as he waited by the door. I nodded my head, and he quickly opened the door to let me. He quietly followed behind me as I approached the front desk. I spoke to the lady at the front desk and filled out the paperwork that the clinic needed. To my surprise, they were actually able to take me right then and there.

I was prepared to bring Maelstrom in with me as I wanted his company while I met a new person; however, he refused to go in with me saying, “I shouldn’t go in with you. Appointments are supposed to be private.”

I tried to convince him that I would feel more comfortable if he went with me, but he still refused to enter with me. Without him beside me, I anxiously followed the nurse into a room. She closed the door behind us, making me feel trapped. I didn’t really want to be in there, and I was scared of what was going to happen. I had no clue what kind of testing they would want to do on me nor how long it was going to take.

I was sweating as the nurse tried to talk to me, but I couldn’t hear her. It sounded like I was underwater as her voice came out muffled and unidentifiable. I was drawing in my own fears as I stopped breathing. My lungs were on fire and my heart was racing. I was beginning to get dizzy as I looked around the room for cover. I needed to get out of there.